The American Banker reported earlier this week that Steven Antonakes, the former CFPB Deputy Director, has joined Eastern Bank in Boston as a senior vice president and chief compliance officer.  According to the article, the bank has $9.6 billion in assets.  As a result, the bank does not currently meet the asset threshold for CFPB supervision, which is more than $10 billion in assets.… Continue Reading

Meredith Fuchs, the General Counsel of the CFPB, has been named today by Director Cordray to be the Acting Deputy Director of the CFPB effective August 1, 2015.  The CFPB previously announced that the existing Deputy Director and Associate Director of the Division of Supervision, Enforcement and Fair Lending, Steve Antonakes, will leave the CFPB at the end of July. … Continue Reading

According to the American Banker and Politico, Deputy Director Steven Antonakes is leaving the CFPB to pursue opportunities in Massachusetts, his home state.  Mr. Antonakes, the CFPB’s second-in-command, has been with the agency since 2010 and has also been serving as the CFPB’s Associate Director for Supervision, Enforcement, and Fair Lending.… Continue Reading

In his prepared remarks for an appearance last week at the Exchequer Club, CFPB Deputy Director Steven Antonakes discussed the CFPB’s risk-based approach to supervision.  (The Exchequer Club’s members include senior professionals from trade associations, federal regulatory agencies, law firms, congressional committees and national press.)

Mr. Antonakes commented on why “the traditional approach to supervision wouldn’t work at the Bureau.” … Continue Reading

Describing his message as a “tough one,” CFPB Deputy Director Steven Antonakes told attendees yesterday at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Mortgage Servicing Conference that “continued sloppiness” by servicers “is difficult to comprehend and not acceptable.”  While acknowledging the CFPB’s past statements that it would not immediately expect perfect compliance with the new mortgage servicing rules and instead would be looking at whether companies were making a good faith effort to comply, Mr.… Continue Reading

Although the House Financial Service Committee’s hearing last Thursday was entitled
“The Semi-Annual Report of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,” the contents of the report received little mention from committee members.  Instead, committee members questioned Director Cordray, the sole hearing witness, on a wide range of topics.  Highlights include the following:

  • The CFPB’s data collection efforts continued to be a major focus of questions from Republican committee members. 
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Director Cordray announced today that Steven Antonakes has officially been named CFPB Deputy Director.  Mr. Antonakes was appointed Acting Deputy Director in January 2013 following the departure of Raj Date.  Director Cordray also announced that Mr. Antonakes will continue to serve as Associate Director for Supervision, Enforcement, and Fair Lending.

 … Continue Reading

CFPB Director Richard Cordray was among the federal financial regulators who attended a closed door meeting yesterday with President Obama.  Other regulators attending the meeting included the Chairs of the Fed, FDIC and SEC.  At the meeting, President Obama was expected to urge the regulators to complete Dodd-Frank rulemaking. 

The Dodd-Frank rulemaking still on the CFPB’s “to do” list includes rules to implement the Dodd-Frank amendments to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act that require financial institutions to collect and maintain certain data in connection with credit applications made by women- or minority-owned businesses and small businesses and to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act that greatly increase the types of information that financial institutions must report. … Continue Reading

In the latest installment in the CFPB data collection controversy, the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit held a hearing on
July 9 entitled “Examining How the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Collects and Uses Consumer Data.”  The sole witness was Steve Antonakes, CFPB Acting Deputy Director. … Continue Reading

The George Mason University School of Law, Law & Economics Center recently hosted a conference titled “Understanding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,” through GMU’s Attorneys General Education Program.  Founded in 2009, the program was created to provide economic and public policy educational programming to state attorneys general and their staff attorneys from across the country. … Continue Reading